News

Alaska voters may get the chance next year to make their state the third in the country to approve the recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 and older.

Backers of the move on Tuesday took the first step toward getting the measure on the August 2014 primary ballot. Three prime sponsors of the effort filed their application for an initiative petition along with signatures from what they say are at least 100 other supporters with the state lieutenant governor's office.

The group is led by Tim Hinterberger, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The other two prime sponsors are Bill Parker and Mary Reff, according to Gail Fenumiai, state elections director.

The measure would tax and regulate marijuana sales and allow Alaskans to cultivate marijuana for personal use. Among other things, it would allow the Legislature to create a Marijuana Control Board, though until then, the Alcohol Beverage Control Board would regulate marijuana sales. Alaskans age 21 and older could legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana under the proposal, or six marijuana plants, three of which could be mature.

Three-quarters of D.C. voters support decriminalizing marijuana and nearly two-thirds support fully legalizing the drug, according to poll released Wednesday by legalization advocates.

The Public Policy Polling survey found 63 percent of District residents would back legalizing marijuana by giving it the same legal treatment of alcohol, similar to what passed in Colorado and Washington state last November. Only 30 percent would oppose such a proposal. Support for decriminalizing the drug and making possession punishable by only a fine of up to $100 was higher, at 75 percent.

Majorities also supported allowing D.C. residents to own up to three marijuana plants for personal use without the threat of jail time and a maximum fine of $300 and changing the city’s existing medical marijuana laws to allow doctors to be prescribe the drug for any affliction. The law currently limits the prescriptions to cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis patients.

Mason Tvert, the communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, told POLITICO the group and others were considering putting legalization or decriminalization on the ballot in 2014.

“It’s clear that voters in the District are looking for a new approach to the marijuana policy and we are committed to bringing that about.”

DENVER — Thousands of people are expected to join an unofficial counterculture holiday celebrating marijuana in Colorado and Washington this coming weekend, including out-of-staters and even packaged tours. The events and crowds will test the limits of new laws permitting pot use by adults.

More than 50,000 are expected to light up outdoors in Denver’s Civic Center Park on April 20 to celebrate marijuana legalization. Thousands more are headed here for the nation’s first open-to-all Cannabis Cup, April 20-21, a domestic version of an annual marijuana contest and celebration in Amsterdam. Expected guests at the Cannabis Cup, a ticketed event taking place inside the Denver Convention Center, include Snoop Lion, the new reggae- and marijuana-loving persona for the rapper better known as Snoop Dogg.

Marijuana activists from New York to San Francisco consider April 20 a day to celebrate the drug and push for broader legalization. The origins of the number “420” as a code for pot are murky, but the drug’s users have for decades marked the date 4/20 as a day to use pot together.

Montpelier — The Vermont House gave preliminary approval Friday to a bill that would change the offense of possessing up to an ounce of marijuana from a misdemeanor crime to a civil offense similar to a speeding violation.

On roll call vote of 98-44, the House endorsed the bill, which would impose a fine of as much as $300 for anyone caught with up to an ounce of the drug.

The bill also contains provisions designed to eliminate the possibility of a permanent criminal record or future collateral consequences such as ineligibility for certain jobs or government benefits for those convicted of possessing up to two ounces, or up to four plants.

The legislation now goes to the Senate, which is also expected to pass it.

A new study has revealed a link between states with legalized medical marijuana and a reduction in traffic-related fatalities. The study was conducted by D. Mark Anderson, a Montana State University economics professor, and Daniel Rees, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver.

In looking at state-level data from sources such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Anderson and Rees discovered that states that had legalized medical marijuana saw an average of a 9 percent decrease in traffic deaths.

"We were pretty surprised that they went down," Rees told the Denver Post.

In an attempt to explain the results, Rees said that the passage of medical-marijuana laws likely resulted in young people consuming less alcohol in favor of using marijuana.

"The result that comes through again and again and again is [that] young adults ... drink less when marijuana is legalized and traffic fatalities go down," Rees told the Post.

The April issue of the scientific journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Results is scheduled to contain a report analyzing brain scans of teenage alcohol and marijuana users. The results indicate alcohol is highly destructive to the brain’s white matter- but the scans show no negative consequence from cannabis use.

The scans were performed at the beginning of the study and again at the end, 18 months later. Extensive toxicology reports were performed every six months on the study’s 92 adolescent participants. The study evaluated the brain scans only, not intelligence or behavior.